Remedies, Etc

A pain reliever, a treatment, a cure, a legal means to redress a wrong, a solution, an answer, a magic formula....

The AARP Bulletin advertises remedies for *not having enough life insurance *stress-reducers: purchase the Safe Step Walk-In Tub *emergencies: get Life Alert *making life easier with the Jitterbug phone *leaves in your gutter: get Leaf Filter gutter protection and *Scammers: God's Pearl of Wisdom diamond pendant to keep his wisdom close to your heart...always

No matter your age and what you read or what you watch or what you see on faceback, we are deluged with remedies for everything in this life. Mental health, physical health, loneliness, aging, protection....

It's endless!

Is something big missing from our lives for us to pay so much attention to all this glitter....

Is it possible we were created to be this way?

God wants us to feel incomplete. Incomplete, that is, without Him. Incomplete, until we reach our real home, the Heavenly Kingdom. Incomplete, until we understand Christ's death so that we might live forgiven. So that we might live in peace, joy, contentment in every situation and know He's got it.

The will of God will never take you 

where the peace of God will not protect you.

Of course, we need to be discerning in meeting our earthly needs, taking care of our selves, our families, our surroundings; however, God's guidance is needed in all things and when we are Spirit-filled, we will see more clearly.

"...your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 

And when Christ who is your real life 

is revealed to the whole world, 

you will share in all His glory." 

Colossians 3:3-4

That is a one of a kind awesome remedy!

I Will Be Different

I'm not the same person I was when I graduated high school, or college, or when I started teaching or when I got married, or after the birth of the first baby, and then the second.... I'm not the same person as I was when I first retired. I hope not to be the same person after the pandemic has passed-- as the world will not be.

When this all started, I made out what I called my "Corona List." Thankfully, most of these tasks are completed. Besides the sorting, organizing, making new, I have made some personal decisions. For example...

1) I'm not going to wear anything that is uncomfortable again...that includes shoes.
2) I'm going to do a better job of being in the moment whether it's with a person or out in nature. X marks the spot.

However, when working with a Shutterfly account in an attempt to make our Family 2019 album, I ran into frustration after frustration. I made the 800 call to ask for help. They assisted; it did not help. They were patient. A half hour later, they suggested I close down the computer and they would get back to me. Typically, this would have annoyed me. Greatly! But, instead, I felt relief.

I put on my jacket and headed outside to view my surroundings: buds popping from swaying tree limbs, children chattering under a crystal blue sky. The birds looked free-er than I had ever seen them. I felt a touch of heaven as wind tossed my hair.

Thank you God for the opportunity to spend time with you.

I thought of Robin Mark's "When it's all been said and done....

Jesus said,

 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the

Father except through me." John 14:6

Remembering Mom

Remembering Mom

It's interesting how certain smells, sounds, and sights can quickly take you back home. The smell of bleach, the clunking of pots and pans being removed from the cupboard early in the morning, a tire swing, an ironing board, and a lemon meringue pie only served on Father's Day and a wedding anniversary.

As the years have passed since Mom's death, I have tried to dig up memories of her when I was growing up. Most of them picture her in the kitchen preparing a meal for farmhands, or under an apple tree--her apron full of fruit, or rocking the latest baby brother in her arms after summer dinner time.

Mom working with her own dad before marriage.

When in college, Mom sent letters weekly. Roommates would be astonished at their length, 6-10 pages on both sides, with the routine details of her and Dad's lives. As I write this, it occurs to me where my need to put words on paper comes from.

When the youngest children were out from underfoot, she tackled the grove--picking up dry sticks and fallen limbs to make a pile for burning. The grove had never looked so cared for.

As I look back, older and wiser, I understand that her own work ethic provided one for me along with a sense of perseverance, stamina, and unconditional love for family. It's interesting the things that are passed down from parent to child--things that are not pounded into our heads, things that we just get because we were there, in the presence of someone special.

I miss her even more as time passes.
I'm not sure why. I didn't expect this.
Maybe, it's the understanding that underneath it all, there's something greater going on.
And, we each are a part of this.
Big mystery?

That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. Colossians 1:26